Samhain April 30th

Samhain is the third of three harvest Sabbats. This is the night of the death of the God, and also the night where we honour our dead. Strictly speaking, Samhain is on May 1st (in the Southern Hemisphere at least), but in the Celtic tradition, which has a day starting at sundown, we celebrate it the night before and go on until dawn if we possibly can. In the Northern Hemisphere Hallowe'en is celebrated on this day. This is another of those obvious ways in which Christians attempted to appease Pagan folk they were trying to convert by giving them a festival close to the time of one of their own. All Hallow's Eve marks the beginning of a Christian celebration almost mirroring the much older Celtic pagan one. In this hemisphere the two festivals are exactly opposite each other and it is the pagan festival that has followed the turning of the seasons, celebrating Samhain (another Gaelic word) in the late autumn rather than on a specific date. At Samhain I light a candle in the window of my home to guide the spirits to my door so they may share my feast. This is where the tradition of laying an extra place at the table comes from. It's something my mother always did when I was a child, a superstition that has lasted even through our very Irish and very Catholic upbringing. It spooked me a little when I first discovered what this tradition meant but now I think it's pretty cool. There is some conflict here if you believe in re-incarnation, but anyone who has done astral travel (or who has seen 'The Sixth Sense'!) will know that there are spirits out there. Inviting them into the warmth of your home will not hurt you or them. Your ancestors are all around you, and are there to guide you, if you'll let them. Something that is a nice idea is to have an area of your home (such as a shelf, a deep window-ledge, a table and so on) dedicated to your ancestors. Put photographs, trinkets, poems and the like there. That way, they can be honoured all year round. Samhain is also the pagan New Year's Eve, a time to reflect on the past year, on your achievements or lack of them, on those who have gone from this life. Rather than a time to be sad, I like to think of this time of year as a time of reflection, of divination for the year to come and of purging. It's a time for new beginnings and preparation for the return of Light (of, dare I say it, new resolutions). So while you're eating your hazelnuts and drinking your lightly spiced cider, think of what has gone before and then put it away. Come midnight, tell yourself 'Happy New Year', and make it so. I'm moving to an entirely new city a few days before Samhain this year so the celebration is likely to be smaller than usual, but there are things that can be done even in a small way!